How to get into heaven? Six wrong answers, one right one

Blair McFarland.

In Bready Reformed Church the month of reflection on Heaven and Hell continues next Sunday evening (April 20) with the theme: How to get into heaven – 6 wrong answers, 1 right answer.

What is heaven like? Before we ask how to get to heaven we should ask what heaven is like. Which ‘heaven’ are we talking about – the one described in the Bible or the one in people’s imagination?

Many people think of heaven as a perfect holiday that goes on forever. Whatever is your ideal vacation, that is heaven for you. It might be lying on a beach or by a swimming pool, with all you want to drink and pretty girls all around. It might be playing golf, with your golf ball flying straight and true. You might even get a hole in one every second hole. Or if skateboarding is your thing you will dream along with OPM who had a song entitled, ‘Heaven Is A Halfpipe,’ which goes: ‘If I die before I wake at least in heaven I can skate.’

Where is God in all of this? Our ideal of heaven tells us something about ourselves. It shows us that our notion of heaven is often centred on us, and our desires. Where does God fit in? Does he have any say in the matter?

Does he have any part to play? If we can imagine our perfect heaven but God was absent, would it still be heaven? The very first verse of the Bible says, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” But, why? Why did God create the earth and why did he create heaven? The answer is, For his own glory. To share his glory with others. He made man in his own image, to reflect his glory. “God saw everything he had made, and indeed it was very good.” To hear more visit Bready Reformed Presbyterian Church on Sundays at 11.30am and 7pm.